Universe/Planets (319)

Pictures

EN_01231879_3286 EYE

This artist's concept shows what the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system may look like, based on available data about the planets' diameters, masses and distances from the host star. The system has been revealed through observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope, as well as other ground-based observatories. The system was named for the TRAPPIST telescope. The seven planets of TRAPPIST-1 are all Earth-sized and terrestrial, according to research published in 2017 in the journal Nature. TRAPPIST-1 is an ultra-cool dwarf star in the constellation Aquarius, and its planets orbit very close to it. They are likely all tidally locked, meaning the same face of the planet is always pointed at the star, as the same side of our moon is always pointed at Earth. This creates a perpetual night side and perpetual day side on each planet. TRAPPIST-1b and c receive the most light from the star and would be the warmest. TRAPPIST-1e, f and g all orbit in the habitable zone, the area where liquid water is most likely to be detected. But any of the planets could potentially harbor liquid water, depending on their compositions. In the imagined planets shown here, TRAPPIST-1b is shown as a larger analogue to Jupiter's moon Io. TRAPPIST-1d is depicted with a narrow band of water near the terminator, the divide between a hot, dry day and an ice-covered night side. TRAPPIST-1e and TRAPPIST-1f are both shown covered in water, but with progressively larger ice caps on the night side. TRAPPIST-1g is portrayed with an atmosphere like Neptune's, although it is still a rocky world. TRAPPIST-1h, the farthest from the star, would be the coldest. It is portrayed here as an icy world, similar to Jupiter's moon Europa, but the least is known about it. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Sci

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EN_01231879_3288 EYE

This artist's concept appeared on the February 23rd, 2017 cover of the journal Nature announcing that the TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it. Any of these planets could have liquid water on them. Planets that are farther from the star are more likely to have significant amounts of ice, especially on the side that faces away from the star. The system has been revealed through observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope, as well as other ground-based observatories. The system was named for the TRAPPIST telescope. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at Caltech/IPAC. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Photo Credit: NASA / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-mail: info@eyevine.com www.eyevine.com

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EN_01231879_3289 EYE

This artist's concept allows us to imagine what it would be like to stand on the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f, located in the TRAPPIST-1 system in the constellation Aquarius. Because this planet is thought to be tidally locked to its star, meaning the same face of the planet is always pointed at the star, there would be a region called the terminator that perpetually divides day and night. If the night side is icy, the day side might give way to liquid water in the area where sufficient starlight hits the surface. One of the unusual features of TRAPPIST-1 planets is how close they are to each other -- so close that other planets could be visible in the sky from the surface of each one. In this view, the planets in the sky correspond to TRAPPIST1e (top left crescent), d (middle crescent) and c (bright dot to the lower right of the crescents). TRAPPIST-1e would appear about the same size as the moon and TRAPPIST1-c is on the far side of the star. The star itself, an ultra-cool dwarf, would appear about three times larger than our own sun does in Earth's skies. The TRAPPIST-1 system has been revealed through observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope, as well as other ground-based observatories. The system was named for the TRAPPIST telescope. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech, also in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at Caltech/IPAC. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Photo Credit: NASA / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-mail: info@eyevine.com www.eyevine.com

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EN_01231879_3284 EYE

All seven planets discovered in orbit around the red dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 could easily fit inside the orbit of Mercury, the innermost planet of our solar system. In fact, they would have room to spare. TRAPPIST-1 also is only a fraction of the size of our sun; it isn't much larger than Jupiter. So the TRAPPIST-1 system's proportions look more like Jupiter and its moons than those of our solar system.? The seven planets of TRAPPIST-1 are all Earth-sized and terrestrial, according to research published in 2017 in the journal Nature. TRAPPIST-1 is an ultra-cool dwarf star in the constellation Aquarius, and its planets orbit very close to it. The system has been revealed through observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope, as well as other ground-based observatories. The system was named for the TRAPPIST telescope. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at Caltech/IPAC. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Photo Credit: NASA / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-mail: info@eyevine.com www.eyevine.com

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EN_01231879_3285 EYE

This chart shows, on the top row, artist concepts of the seven planets of TRAPPIST-1 with their orbital periods, distances from their star, radii and masses as compared to those of Earth. On the bottom row, the same numbers are displayed for the bodies of our inner solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The TRAPPIST-1 planets orbit their star extremely closely, with periods ranging from 1.5 to only about 20 days. This is much shorter than the period of Mercury, which orbits our sun in about 88 days. The artist concepts show what the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system may look like, based on available data about their diameters, masses and distances from the host star. The system has been revealed through observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope, as well as other ground-based observatories. The system was named for the TRAPPIST telescope. The seven planets of TRAPPIST-1 are all Earth-sized and terrestrial, according to research published in 2017 in the journal Nature. TRAPPIST-1 is an ultra-cool dwarf star in the constellation Aquarius, and its planets orbit very close to it. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at Caltech/IPAC. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Photo Credit: NASA / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-mail: info@eyevine.com www.eyevine.com

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EN_01231879_3283 EYE

The TRAPPIST-1 system contains a total of seven planets, all around the size of Earth.?Three of them -- TRAPPIST-1e, f and g -- dwell in their star's so-called "habitable zone." The habitable zone, or Goldilocks zone, is a band around every star (shown here in green) where astronomers have calculated that temperatures are just right -- not too hot, not too cold -- for liquid water to pool on the surface of an Earth-like world.? While TRAPPIST-1b, c and d are too close to be in the system's likely habitable zone, and TRAPPIST-1h is too far away, the planets' discoverers say more optimistic scenarios could allow any or all of the planets to harbor liquid water. In particular, the strikingly small orbits of these worlds make it likely that most, if not all of them, perpetually show the same face to their star, the way our moon always shows the same face to the Earth. This would result in an extreme range of temperatures from the day to night sides, allowing for situations not factored into the traditional?habitable zone?definition. The illustrations shown for the various planets depict a range of possible scenarios of what they could look like. The system has been revealed through observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope, as well as other ground-based observatories. The system was named for the TRAPPIST telescope. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at Caltech/IPAC. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Photo Credit: NASA / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-ma

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EN_01231879_3287 EYE

This illustration shows the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets as they might look as viewed from Earth using a fictional, incredibly powerful telescope. The sizes and relative positions are correctly to scale: This is such a tiny planetary system that its sun, TRAPPIST-1, is not much bigger than our planet Jupiter, and all the planets are very close to the size of Earth. Their orbits all fall?well within what, in our solar system, would be the orbital distance of our innermost planet, Mercury. With such small orbits, the TRAPPIST-1 planets complete a "year" in a matter of a few Earth days: 1.5 for the innermost planet, TRAPPIST-1b, and 20 for the outermost, TRAPPIST-1h.? This particular arrangement of planets with a double-transit reflect an actual configuration of the system during the 21 days of observations made by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in late 2016. The system has been revealed through observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope, as well as other ground-based observatories. The system was named for the TRAPPIST telescope. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at Caltech/IPAC. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Photo Credit: NASA / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-mail: info@eyevine.com www.eyevine.com

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EN_01231879_2803 EYE

Dione's lit hemisphere faces away from Cassini's camera, yet the moon's darkened surface features are dimly illuminated in this image, due to Saturnshine. Although direct sunlight provides the best illumination for imaging, light reflected off of Saturn can do the job as well. In this image, Dione (698 miles or 1,123 kilometers across) is above Saturn's day side, and the moon's night side is faintly illuminated by sunlight reflected off the planet's disk. This view looks toward the Saturn-facing side of Dione. North on Dione is up and rotated 8 degrees to the right. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 23, 2016. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 313,000 miles (504,000 kilometers) from Dione. Image scale is 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) per pixel. The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Photo Credit: NASA / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-mail: info@eyevine.com www.eyevine.com

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EN_01231879_2678 EYE

The JunoCam imager on NASA's Juno spacecraft snapped this shot of Jupiter's northern latitudes on Dec. 11, 2016 at 8:47 a.m. PST (11:47 a.m. EST), as the spacecraft performed a close flyby of the gas giant planet. The spacecraft was at an altitude of 10,300 miles (16,600 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops. This stunning view of the high north temperate latitudes fortuitously shows NN-LRS-1, a giant storm known as a Little Red Spot (lower left). This storm is the third largest anticyclonic reddish oval on the planet, which Earth-based observers have tracked for the last 23 years. An anticyclone is a weather phenomenon with large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure. They rotate clockwise in the northern hemisphere, and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere. This Little Red Spot shows very little color, just a pale brown smudge in the center. The color is very similar to the surroundings, making it difficult to see as it blends in with the clouds nearby. Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstaedt and John Rogers processed the image and drafted the caption. Photo Credit: NASA / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-mail: info@eyevine.com www.eyevine.com

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EN_01231879_2675 EYE

The lesser-known constellation of Canes Venatici (The Hunting Dogs), is home to a variety of deep-sky objects ? including this beautiful galaxy, known as NGC 4861. Astronomers are still debating on how to classify it: While its physical properties ? such as mass, size and rotational velocity ? indicate it to be a spiral galaxy, its appearance looks more like a comet with its dense, luminous "head" and dimmer "tail" trailing behind. Features more fitting with a dwarf irregular galaxy. Although small and messy, galaxies like NGC 4861 provide astronomers with interesting opportunities for study. Small galaxies have lower gravitational potentials, which simply means that it takes less energy to move stuff about inside them than it does in other galaxies. As a result, moving in, around, and through such a tiny galaxy is quite easy to do, making them far more likely to be suffused with streams and outflows of speedy charged particles known as galactic winds, which can flood such galaxies with little effort. These galactic winds can be powered by the ongoing process of star formation, which involves huge amounts of energy. New stars are springing into life within the bright, colourful 'head' of NGC 4861 and ejecting streams of high-speed particles as they do so, which flood outwards to join the wider galactic wind. While NGC 4861 would be a perfect candidate to study such winds, recent studies did not find any galactic winds in it. Credit: ESA / eyevine

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! EN_01151355_0348 SCI

Computer artwork of the Moon on a starfield background rising above a blue and white limb of the Earth. The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. It has a diameter of 3476km and lies at a mean distance of 384,000km from the Earth. Its rotation period around the Earth is equal to its period of revolution of 27.3 days. For this reason the Moon keeps the same face turned towards the Earth. The visible side has large dark areas called the lunar maria and craters caused by the impacts of falling meteoroids. The lunar maria are relatively empty of craters suggesting that these basins were filled recently by volcanic material.

! EN_01151355_1550 SCI

Exoplanet types. Artwork of a range of types of extrasolar planets that have been discovered beyond our Solar System. These exoplanets range from very large gas giant planets (largest), to super-Earth (upper left), to gaseous, icy, hot, ringed and rocky planets. As of September 2014, more than 1700 alien planets have been detected, with 452 multi-planet systems, and many thousands more candidates not yet confirmed. Some of these planets may be capable of supporting life.

! EN_01151355_2027 SCI

Artwork of the Earth, Sun and Moon seen from space. Earth is the third planet from the Sun. The Moon (lower right) has a diameter just over a quarter of the Earth's. It orbits the Earth at a distance of around 385,000 kilometres, taking just over 27 days for one orbit. It does not have an atmosphere and is a heavily cratered and barren piece of rock. The Earth-Moon system orbits the Sun (upper centre) at a distance of about 150 million kilometres. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly behind the Earth into its shadow.

! EN_01151355_2028 SCI

Artwork of the Sun with the orbits of the Earth and Moon. Earth is the third planet from the Sun. The Moon (lower right) has a diameter just over a quarter of the Earth's. It orbits the Earth at a distance of around 385,000 kilometres, taking just over 27 days for one orbit. It does not have an atmosphere and is a heavily cratered and barren piece of rock. The Earth-Moon system orbits the Sun at a distance of about 150 million kilometres. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly behind the Earth into its shadow, and a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth.

! EN_01151355_2029 SCI

Jupiter, artwork. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the solar system, with a mass two and a half times that of all the other planets put together. Jupiter's atmosphere consists of colourful, swirling bands of cloud; it is dominated by the Great Red Spot, visible towards bottom left, which is a giant, circulating atmospheric disturbance.

! EN_01151355_2030 SCI

Jupiter and its rings, artwork. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the solar system. The rings are made of fast-moving dust particles. They have a radial structure; dark, dust-free areas represent orbits which are perturbed by the gravitational influence of Jupiter's moons. Jupiter's rings are unstable, and the dust gradually falls towards the planet, constantly being refreshed by dust which probably comes from the slow disintegration of orbiting moons and moonlets.

! EN_01151355_2031 SCI

Jupiter's interior. Cutaway artwork showing the interior structure of the planet Jupiter. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the solar system, with a mass two and a half times that of all the other planets put together. A rocky core (small sphere, centre) about the size of Earth lies at its centre, where the temperature is 20,000-30,000 degrees Celsius. Around the core is a vast layer of liquid hydrogen (dark grey), which accounts for most of the planet's mass. The inner part of the hydrogen layer is under such high pressure that it acts like molten metal. The outermost parts of the planet consist of a thin atmosphere of hydrogen, water and ice, ammonium hydrosulphide and ammonia crystals.

! EN_01151355_2032 SCI

Jupiter's interior. Cutaway artwork showing the interior structure of the planet Jupiter. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the solar system. A rocky core (small sphere, centre) about the size of Earth lies at its centre, where the temperature is 20,000-30,000 degrees Celsius. Around the core is a vast layer of liquid hydrogen (dark grey), which accounts for most of the planet's mass. The inner part of the hydrogen layer is under such high pressure that it acts like molten metal. The outermost parts of the planet consist of a thin atmosphere of hydrogen, water and ice, ammonium hydrosulphide and ammonia crystals. Jupiter's rings are made of fast-moving dust particles.

EN_00958297_0947 PHO

Optical image of Mars with an illustration showing it's core, mantle and crust. Current studies say its core consists primarily of iron with about 14-17% sulfur, and is about 1480 km in radius. The core is surrounded by a silicate mantle that formed many of the tectonic and volcanic features on the planet, but now appears to be inactive. The average thickness of the planet's crust is about 50 km, while the maximum thickness is about 125 km. In comparison, Earth's crust, averages 40 km, and is only one third as thick as the crust of Mars.

EN_00958297_0948 PHO

Optical image of Mars with an illustration showing it's core, mantle and crust. Current studies say its core consists primarily of iron with about 14-17% sulfur, and is about 1480 km in radius. The core is surrounded by a silicate mantle that formed many of the tectonic and volcanic features on the planet, but now appears to be inactive. The average thickness of the planet's crust is about 50 km, while the maximum thickness is about 125 km. In comparison, Earth's crust, averages 40 km, and is only one third as thick as the crust of Mars.